Teacher cuts pupil's hair, mum files police report

Uh, what? For it to not be touching the ears at all, it would have to be some sort of extreme bowlcut.

No, they shave off the hair around the ears to make a sort of 'moat of skin' in between the place where most of the hair is and the place where the ear is.

If you look at the image of the boy after the cut, you'll see a section of badly shaved skin between his hair and his upper ear.



I've circled it in red for you in case you're not sure what to look for:



He actually looks like he got off relatively well, I've seen teachers shave off the hair behind the ears as well in a wide radius so that the 'moat' extends very visibly behind the ears onto the scalp portion. It can make the students look like they have weird alien crop circles growing out of their heads.

Basically, when teachers say 'not touching the eyebrows, ears or collar' they mean it with a vengeance. It's a very strict policy. In most situations 'near but not touching' is not allowed.

Is that really what they consider normal?

Nobody cares what's normal so long as it doesn't touch the eyebrows, ears or collar. Not like you are allowed much of a say in the matter, lol. If you don't follow the rule you get punished. You follow the rule is all. Can't be helped if you end up looking like crap.